Screw-driver with adjustable side claws.



No. 680,043. Patented Aug. 6, I901.

w. L. A. HECKEN. SCREW DRIVER WITH ADJUSTABLE SIDE CLAWS.

(Application filed Feb.'13, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILl-IELM LUDWIG ADOLF HEOKEN, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

SCREW-DRIVER WITH ADJUSTABLE SIDE CLAWS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,043, dated August 6, 1901.

Application filed February 13, 1901. Serial No. 47,174. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILHEL'M LUDWIG ADOLF HECKEN, a citizen of Hamburg, residing at Hamburg Grindelhof, in the Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw-Drivers with Adjustable Side Claws, (for which Ihave applied for patents in England, No. 13,358, dated July 24:, 1900; in Austria, dated July 18, 1900, and in Hungary, N0. 11,2I7, dated August 6, 1900,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improved screw-driver furnished with a pair of adjustable side claws which grip the top edge of the screw and prevent the point or edge of the screw-driver slipping out of the screw-slot.

In Figure 1 of the drawings the various parts of the screw-driver are shown separated from one another. Fig. 2 shows the safety screw-driver with its end or edge placed on the head of a screw ready for use, and Fig. 3 shows a plan View .of the screw-driver as seen from above.

1 is the tang or insertion-piece to receive the handle, below which is the screw-threaded part 2, and below this again on either the broad or narrow side of the blade proper, 3, are two lugs 4, opposite to one another. On these lugs 4 are hung the side claws 5, which have holes 12 to receive the lugs, said claws tapering, as shown. The under part 7 of the claw is preferably set back a little and hollowed toward the inside in a shovel-shaped manner, so that the lower broad edges 8 grip without difficulty any screw-head however large. Over the screw-driver blade and the claws 5 hung thereupon is passed a socketpiece 10, which is cylindrical at the top, but opens out conically toward the bottom, corresponding to the outer surface of the claws. This socket 10 is pressed more or less downward by means of the screw-nut 11, situated on the part 2. The greater the diameter of the head of the screw to be turned the farther must the socket-piece 10 be moved upward,

- and, on the contrary, the smaller the diameter of the head of the screw the lower must the socket 10 be pressed downward. It will be understood that the holes 12 in the claws 5 being conical on both'sides and gradually widening and the curved or tapered profile ofthe broad surface 6 permitting of a turning of the side claws 5 outward on the lugs 4, according to the position of the socket-piece 10, the broad edges 8 are enabled to approach nearer to one another or open out from one another, according to requirement. The new screw-driver can of course be made in any desired size.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination of the screw-driver hav ing oppositely-projecting lugs on its blade, with a pair of tapered claws having recesses to receive said lugs and hung thereon and adapted to clamp a screw, a sliding socketpiece for clamping the claws, and a thumbnut for binding said socket-piece, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the screw-driver having a threaded part above the blade, and opp0sitely-projecting lugs below the threaded part, opposite eXteriorly-tapered screw-clamping claws hung on said lugs below the threaded part, an internally-tapered adjustable socketpiece fitted over the jaws, and a thumb-nut on the threaded part above the socket-piece, all substantially as described.

3. A screw-driver with safety arrangement to prevent slipping of the end or edge thereof from the screw-head,which consists of a screwdriver blade 3 with a pair of side claws 5 hung thereon in such a manner that they are capable of being turned outward or inward to a limited extent, the broad edges 8 of which grip over the head of the screw, the distance apart of the said edges 8 being regulated by a socket-piece 10 and a regulating thumb screw or nut 11 on a screw-threaded part 2 of the screw-driver shaft or blade the Whole combined, arranged and operating substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

WILHELM LUDWIG ADOLF HEOKEN.

Witnesses:

THOMAS E. HEENAN, THOMAS MILES. 

